An ozone friendly gas used in household fridges could be behind a series of
mystery explosions, it has been claimed.

Isobutane, a flammable gas also used in some aerosol cans as an alternative to CFCs, may have leaked unnoticed into the machines and built up to potentially harmful levels, engineers suggest.

It comes two weeks after the Cullingworth family from Normanton, West Yorks, were awoken in the night by an explosion in their kitchen.

The mystery blast blew out windows smashed ornaments, tore radiators from the walls and sent food flying across the room.

Firemen were baffled when they traced the explosion to the family's refrigerator which has since been taken away for inspection. It was the latest in a series of such explosions which have come to light.

"I didn't have a clue what was going on, there was an almighty explosion and the whole house shook, it felt like an earthquake," said Kathy Cullingworth, 55.

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"I thought that a bomb had gone off, or that a lorry had run into my house."

Now attention is focusing on the isobutane coolant, used in millions of domestic fridges.

Also known as methylpropane, it was introduced as a more environmentally friendly alternative to chlorofluorocarbons (better known as CFCs) which were phased out after it was discovered that they were causing a hole in the atmospheric ozone layer.

Although it is protected by safety features, the theory is that isobutane may have escaped from the piping into the main body of the fridge and built up overnight before being ignited by a spark, possibly when the thermostat switched over.

Jane Gartshore, president of the Institute of Refrigeration told the Daily Mail that there was a "theoretical possibility" that a leak could have caused the explosions.

But she added: "There are hundreds of millions of these fridges and these incidents are very rare."